Nowadays the term neurotic is used too easily and it is not at all strange to hear someone say, "Calm down, stop being so neurotic" when someone is extremely concerned about a situation.
However, what many of us do not know is that there are a number of people who not only care about some determine situations, but live in a continuous worry and, therefore, a continuous state of stress. These people are really neurotic.
In this Psychology-Online article you will find how does a neurotic act.
Neuroticism is about a dimension of vulnerability or emotional sensitivity that predisposes the person to be more emotionally unstable, especially in the face of negative emotions. These people experience emotional pain excessively. This can end up causing the development of phobias, depression, dependencies, obsessions.
This dimension has the characteristic of being relatively stable over time and consistent across different situations. It is also usually accompanied by a high degree of anxiety, which is marked by a notable inability to reduce it.
People characterized by a neurotic personality have a high predisposition to experience negative emotions (anger, fear, shame, ...). In addition, they have little tolerance for frustration, which makes them act impulsively.
On the other hand, they are also known for presenting difficulties coping with stressful situations, as well as for acting in a hostile way as a result of the suspicion they have towards other people.
It is considered by psychology professionals, as indicated by Martija (2014), that the origin of this personality It comes from the inability of an adult to accept that he has grown up and that, as an adult he already is, only.
Following that fear to loneliness and to the one who will come, a distrustful personality, which forces him to hide under a large multitude of shields that he has developed to protect himself. Also, since feels inferior to the rest of the people, he will try by all means to please them, since in this way he will ensure that the rest of the individuals protect him from the “dangers” of the adult world.
There is no delimited by the investigations a series of exact symptoms for neurotic people, since there are different degrees of neuroticism. However, a series of common traits that neurotic people develop have been found:
- Anxiety: they have generalized anxiety, which means that they tend to worry and get into a situation of Constant tension. This trait is considered specific to neurotic people, so people who suffer from anxiety would obtain positive scores on neuroticism questionnaires. If you think that may be your case, check it with the Hamilton anxiety test.
- Hostility: As I have said, due to their suspicion they tend to act in a hostile way with the rest of society. In addition, they are also usually very spiteful.
- Depression: these people tend to show feelings of sadness, guilt and helplessness. In addition, it is not difficult to find them in a situation of discouragement and melancholy.
- Low self-esteem: they are shy people and with Inferiority complex, so they will always act in fear and ashamed to make a fool of myself.
- Impulsiveness: they have difficulty resisting or controlling their impulses and desires. They are very impatient people in their day to day. In the following article you will find more information about what is impulsivity.
- Aggressiveness: they tend to get angry very easily and as a result have a pattern of go to very aggressive. If we also add it to his maladaptive impulsiveness, we find an explosive personality.
Next, I present a series of characteristics that usually determine the way in which people with neurotic traits behave.
- Search for references. As a result of his low self-esteem and their fear of being ridiculed, these people tend to seek as references other people whom they want to resemble, either because of their values, their charisma, etc. However, this can work against them, because if they do not manage to resemble their reference, they enter a constant feeling of frustration.
- Little reflection. They are people who speak very directly. Although they know the ethical and social laws, due to their impulsive trait, they tend to be very invasive and direct, since they let themselves be carried away by their emotions.
- Instability. Emotional changes make up a large part of your personality, so you tend to change your thinking and attitude according to the emotions you feel. So it is not uncommon to observe a lack of coherence in his speech.
- Anticipation. Neurotics tend to anticipate events, so they generally feel great anxiety about what has not yet happened. This is also related to the continual stressful situation in which they may come to live.
- Inability to acceptcriticsAs mentioned above, one of its symptoms is low self-esteem and this makes them extremely sensitive to criticism. They tend to feel hurt even on those occasions when they are not being criticized directly. This is a consequence of the catastrophic interpretation that they usually make of things.
- Great sensitivity. They are hypersensitive people, and not only in regard to their feelings, but also in the situations that surround them, such as seeing two people argue, watching a sad movie, etc.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
